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FEBRUARY 2001
BOSTON
BAKED BLUNDER: Last week, the Boston Ballet made serious waves when it
dismissed a number of dancers from its ranks, apparently at the behest of newly
appointed artistic director Maina Gielgud. Yesterday, Gielgud herself was
severed, months before she was even scheduled to officially begin work. The move
leaves the company more or less in a state of complete chaos. Boston Herald 02/27/01
DANCE WAS NO.
1: Dance may not be today's dominant art form, but, says an Israeli
archaeologist, it was 9,000 to 5,000 years ago. He "thinks he has pieced
together a significant body of evidence for dancing, if not at its beginning, at
least at a decisive and poorly understood transitional stage of human
culture." The New York Times 02/27/01 (one-time registration required for access)
Sunday February
25
- DANCING
AROUND THE LAW: Dance, as a specific art form, tends to be rather difficult
to catalogue. How can anyone set down on paper the mere motions of a body, let
alone the passion and theory behind the dance? This conundrum has always caused
legal problems for dance companies wanting to put on productions of famously
choreographed works, and dancers say U.S. intellectual property law is getting
in the way of their art. Boston Globe 02/25/01
Friday February
23
- WHAT'S
IT TAKE TO MAKE A BALLET COMPANY?: Professional ballet companies thrive in
places like Atlanta, Houston, Salt Lake City, and Seattle. So why can't places
like Detroit and San Deigo support them? It's a delicate balance of talent,
funding, audience, and luck. "Starting a ballet company is a crazy thing to do.
But these were people who couldn't help starting a ballet company, people who
decided to give their lives to dance. So they wouldn't give up."
Detroit News 02/23/01
Thursday February
22
- BOSTON
DENIES BIAS: The new artistic director of the Boston Ballet acknowledges
that something of a bloodbath is going on within the company, as more and more
dancers are dismissed. But the management strongly denies published reports that
the firings are targeting the troupe's Russian dancers. Boston Herald 02/22/01
- REMEMBERING
HAMPTON: Dancer/choreographer Eric Hampton was never one to make headlines
with controversial techniques or to follow what the dance world considered to be
the latest trends. The quirky, independent Hampton, who died Tuesday at age 54
after a long battle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), will be remembered as a
brilliant teacher, and a tireless advocate of the joy of the dance. Washington Post 02/22/01
- ALBERTA
SETTLEMENT NEAR: The dancer who sued the Alberta Ballet last year over her
dismissal from the company will likely announce a settlement with her old
employer sometime today. Her lawsuit had contended that she was dismissed for
having left the company for maternity leave, and gaining weight during the
pregnancy that she never completely shed. The company denies that her pregnancy
had anything to do with the nonrenewal. The Globe
& Mail (Toronto) 02/22/01
- THE
BOLSHOI BRAND: The Bolshoi is no longer such a revered name. But a girl's
gotta eat - so the company is franchising out its school, opening a branch of
its school in Australia (even though the announcement seems to have surprised
the school's Australian hosts). ThWednesday February 21
- BETTER THAN
THE BOLSHOI? Amid the turmoil of Russia re-inventing itself, and the bitter
cold of St. Petersburg, ballet is thriving. "The Kirov (known in Russia now as
the Mariinsky) is now widely recognized as Russia's best ballet company,
surpassing the more famous Bolshoi Ballet of Moscow. Its foreign tours have been
commercial and critical triumphs. Its performances have dazzled the demanding
audiences of London and New York." The Globe
and Mail (Toronto) 02/21/01
- THE FUTURE OF
DANCE: An international gala in New York celebrates the biggest
international stars of today. "The 13 dancers from the United States and Europe
delivered the promised international mix, and Spain, once a country with no
classical ballet tradition, looks more and more like a fount of major talent.
Somebody must be putting something in the paella." The
New York Times 02/21/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
- A
NEW BROOM SWEEPS IN BOSTON: Fifteen dancers apparently are on their way out
at the Boston Ballet. Their departure coincides with the arrival of a new
artistic director, who's reported to have told the whole troupe "that they would
be auditioning for the rest of their lives." The Boston Globe 02/21/01
Sunday February
18
- DANCE
AS A BUSINESS: While most dance companies struggle with paying the rent, the
11-member David Parsons Company "operates firmly in the black with a remarkable
90 percent earned income, and has been touring roughly 40 weeks a year. Four
months ago, the company moved into a brand new building on 42d Street in
Manhattan, affording it a 1,500-square-foot office and luxurious rehearsal
space." Boston Globe 02/18/01
- MUSIC
YOU CAN MOVE TO: The importance of choosing the right music in dance can't
be understated. And yet music is often the downfall of today's choreographers.
"The important choreographers must also be musicologists, interpreters and
critics, all rolled into one package. The more substantial the music, the more
awesome the challenge for the dancemaker. The finest ballets will tell you
something about a familiar score or possibly introduce a wider public to an
important piece." San Francisco Chronicle
02/18/01
- NEDERLAND
W/O KYLIAN: Choreographer Jiri Kylian has spent 25 years with the Nederlands
Dans Theatre. Indeed it's difficult to imagine the acclaimed company without
him. But now Kylian has stepped aside as artistic director. "The sense of
freedom cannot be underestimated, and now I can talk to people from the position
of not being their boss." San Francisco Chronicle
02/18/01
Wednesday February
14
- $50 MILLION FOR DANCE
AND OPERA: Arts patron Alberto Vilar has given $50 million to the Kennedy
Center to finance ten annual visits by the Kirov Ballet and Opera company. In
the past year Vilar has given more than $100 million to performing arts
groups. The New York Times 02/14/01 (one-time registration required for access)
- TWYLA TIME: Twyla Tharp is tired of the
itinerant artist life. So she's bought into Brooklyn with a new company of her
own. "Having achieved counterpoint she can respect, and whatever other skills
and insights her various projects engendered, she's ready to commit herself to
building a troupe again. Work for hire inevitably involves compromises, and
compromising is not how she wants to spend the rest of her life—although some
adjustments she's more than willing to make." Village Voice
02/14/01
Sunday February
11
- NEW
MUSIC TO MATCH NEW DANCE: "Ballet has long had the power, and money, to
commission new music, but poverty-stricken modern dance is in a different
position. The lack of tie-ups between modern choreographers and composers is due
partly to a lack of confidence, but more likely to sheer logistics. CDs of
electronic music make few musical demands and are easily carried in a pocket.
Now an ambitious new dance-and-music work takes British modern dance grandly in
a significant new direction. An orchestra, a composer and a choreographer have
united forces." The Telegraph (London)
02/11/01
- A CHOREOGRAPHER GROWS
IN BROOKLYN: "Harvey Lichtenstein, chairman of the Brooklyn Academy's Local
Development Corporation, is overseeing a 10-year, $560 million plan to create a
cultural district in Brooklyn near the academy, and Twyla Tharp is the first
major artist to move into the community. One recent evening Mr. Lichtenstein,
who was the head of BAM for 32 years, and Ms. Tharp, one of the most talked
about choreographers working today, met at her Upper West Side apartment to
discuss her coming season at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan and her hopes for
the new space in Brooklyn." The New York Times
02/11/01 (one-time
registration required for access)
- REMEMBERING THE
CHOREOGRAPHERS: "As our culture tumbles into the 21st century, concert dance
is succumbing to the big business model: grow bigger or perish. But what happens
to talented dance makers whose chamber-scale work will never fill the stages or
auditoriums of City Center, the Brooklyn Academy of Music or even the Joyce
Theater?" The New York Times 02/11/01 (one-time registration
required for access)
- DALLAS
FORT WORTH BALLET DIRECTOR DISMISSED: Ben Houck is leaving as director of
the Dallas Fort Worth Ballet. Houck was hired 3 1/2 years ago to reinvigorate
the company with new works and classics. "The board wanted variety, but
apparently not this much variety." Dallas
Morning News 02/11/01
Wednesday February
7
- TWYLA THARP ON BEETHOVEN: If you think
an orchestra is kept busy with Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, you should see what
a ballet troupe has to go through. Particularly when the choreographer is Twyla
Tharp. "[J]ust as Beethoven's symphony is inexhaustibly energetic, so is the
ballet. Neither Beethoven nor Ms. Tharp runs out of
steam."
The New York Times
02/07/01
(one-time registration required for
access)
Monday February
5
- DEFINING
THE DANCER: The fallout continues from the white-hot dispute between the San
Francisco Ballet School and the mother of an 8-year-old applicant who was
rejected on sight last year. The school has stood its ground, insisting that
many body types are simply unfit for the ballet, but other prominent dance
instructors around the country are disgusted with San Francisco's perceived
arrogance.
The Plain Dealer
(Cleveland) 02/04/01
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